


Oracle Inc.

by ImperiusRex



Series: When the Sun Kissed the Sea [5]
Category: Heroes For Hire (Comics), Invaders (Marvel), Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst, First Kiss, First Time, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutual Pining, Office Sex, Oral Sex, Rough Kissing, Rough Sex, Sad Ending, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-06 17:51:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18393374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImperiusRex/pseuds/ImperiusRex
Summary: Jim Hammond is the head of Oracle Inc. and he meets with Oracle's owner, Prince Namor, one day for coffee. Namor and Jim have this unspoken thing between them, and it's finally out in the open, but Namor has a hard decision to make.[This is a gift to my dear best friend. Happy one year anniversary of our friendship! I hope to fill your years with all the stories I can and enjoy them with you.]





	Oracle Inc.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AtlantiSapphire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AtlantiSapphire/gifts).



> [This is set during the comics Heroes for Hire (1997) #8 and #19]

** Oracle Inc. **

 

Jim picks up another cat that morning on his way to the office.

He doesn’t exactly  go out looking for them but his feet had always seemed to take him past the places where he knows one might cross his path, and he always seems to have a bit of extra cat treats in his pocket. Jim tells himself it’s just one more cat and scoops up the malnourished creature, it claws him a bit, he doesn’t mind. He knows how to sooth them, giving her a treat, the orange and black stripped tabby is content to eat as he makes it to the office. It was starving but he has a food dish in his office and up on the highest level of Oracle Inc. he sets her down with the other two who now live in the building tower. His apartment had a no pet rule so he kept them here. Jim Hammond was head of Oracle and he employed someone who would be sure to feed and clean up after them when he was too busy with the company. They had just acquired Rand Incorporated, and Danny Rand was working for Heroes for Hire now, he was someone who Jim had to adjust to, but he had experience handling men who were born rich or royalty. Between the Iron Fist and Heroes for Hire, Jim was trying to juggle a corporate super hero team and a company all at once. He flops into the large black leather high back chair and swivels around to face the desk. In the corner the new cat explores the large room, his office was far too much for him, but Namor had insisted and he could never argue with him about things like that.

_You need to be seen as a leader Jim, do you think people will take you seriously if you operate out of a broom closet?_

He was right and Jim hated when Namor was right. Jim groans at the amount of paperwork, and boots up the computer while his other two cats, one grey and the other a calico cat with black, brown, and white splotches are content to watch the newcomer, tails slowly swishing as they lay on the coffee table that sat by the sofas he sometimes used to stretch out on when he got too bored with paperwork. He didn’t get tired, he was an android, but he found that taking catnaps with a few fur balls of purring warmth on his chest was much nicer than working. The day goes on, he deals with the Heroes for Hire, he deals with Danny and his need to think he was in charge, and then he deals with the company lawyer telling him that he was leaving. Jim didn’t like that, he was an old robot, and too much change in his day to day operations was never good. However his layer’s replacement had not been anyone Jim had expected, he looks at the jade green woman in a smart lawyer’s attire and she gives him a smile that said 'I wrestle sharks and eat them for breakfast'.

His secretary tells him that he has another visitor, his large office was already getting crowded, “Can you tell them to wait or come back later? I’m just a little busy-"

“I’m not well known for my patience fire bug.”

That voice.

He turns, his heart rate had increased when he heard him, and seeing him makes him feel… warm. Like he was holding one of his cats and it was purring on his chest. Namor stands in his office doorway, a small smile on his face, not a smirk, but a genuine smile that light up his sea green eyes. He wore a sleek black suit, with no tie and the silver earring in his ear makes him look like any other new age business man, except for the fact that his ears were pointed, no one could have been able to say Namor wasn’t a wealthy businessman. Those sharp tips and the gills that were just behind his ears on his neck gave away that Namor wasn’t exactly human, or fully human _. How is it he is even more beautiful than the last time I saw him?_ It had been some months ago, when Namor asked him to take over the day to day running of Oracle Inc. He had been in his more traditional clothes at that time (meaning a small green speedo) and for some reason Namor’s suit was… sexier, maybe because Jim knew exactly the kind of body that lay under those fabrics.

“She-Hulk,” Namor says in a greeting to Jenifer while ignoring the two humans in the room. He always did that unless they were worth note Namor never gave surfacers any kind of acknowledgement.

“Namor, you’re looking better than the last time I saw you. Have you joined up with the Avengers again?” She returns as she gives him a once over that has Jim fighting a spark of jealousy.

Jim remembers that Namor had been on the same team with Jenifer a few years back, back when he had been married to Marrina… he knew the woman was dead but back when he heard that Namor had remarried he had… not been ok. He had refused to explore those feelings and just shut them away.

“I have not, too much keeps me busy in Atlantis, but I came up here to have coffee with Jim.”

“Hold all my calls,” Jim tells his secretary and to his old lawyer Hogarth he bids him good luck, and thanks him for bringing in Jenifer to take over the job, he turns to the green shaded lawyer and makes his excuses “Sorry to greet and dash Miss Walters but if you need anything please let my sectary know.”

She shakes his hand and he finally mercifully is able to slip away and join Namor as they make their way down to the in building diner that they had on the first floor, the orange cat from this morning seems to have taken a shine to Jim because he followed the android. Sitting in a quiet corner and away from the other employees who chose to eat here, the building had several different options for food, but this was the only one with good hot food and coffee that Jim didn’t have to make himself, he enjoys coffee though he doesn’t need it, the milk he had added made it taste better. He sips slowly as Namor talks, watching the Prince is… comforting, and anxiety inducing all at once, he didn’t know if it was just his stressful day but seeing Namor sitting here talking, the sun shining through the window and making the silver earring glint is so damn comforting and he loves it. Hammond rubs the cat’s head, as he sat in his lap, a ball of fluff and claws, and the cat turns his head into Jim’s hand. Starved for touch and love this cat has adopted Jim now. Namor turns serious and asks about Jim’s beard, Jim replies and for a moment things are silent, then Namor slaps his knee, and **_LAUGHS_**.

It is a long loud laugh, one that brings tears to his eyes and a big smile to his face. Jim did that, he made Namor laugh, and it makes him grin widely.

“Fire bug you kill me.” Namor says as he winds down, small chuckles still escape every now and then and Jim is so damn pleased. It seemed like Namor never smiled. After settling himself Namor turns serious again. “Well then,” the Prince says expected as he sits forward, a gleam in his eye, both hands rose with a come here gesture.

He gives Namor a confused smile, “Well then what?”

“Let me touch.”

Jim raises a brow, “Wha- why?”

“Indulge me Firebug; I want to see how it feels.”

Jim leans forward, he almost didn’t, almost played it off with a laugh, but he was always unable to resist these small things Namor asked of him, even though it sounded like an order to anyone else. He stays very still as Namor sits on the edge of his own seat, leaning closer. Jim could never get used to seeing Namor so covered up in clothes; his mind supplies him with the image of Namor in his usual attire. He feels warm and hopes he isn’t blushing. Namor’s hands are large, like the rest of the man, and it runs gently down the side of his face, cupping his cheeks. With his face in both of Namor’s hands it’s impossible not to look directly at the Atlantean’s face, and Jim recalls everything he knows about it. He knows that Namor had a small scar on his upper lip, it had faded away to almost nothing but he knew that he got it when fighting, and being punched in the face. He knew that Namor had the best cheekbones he had ever seen on a person, they cut a regal picture with the sharp jaw line and his brows, those ridiculously arched things, only added to his beauty. He stares at soft lips as Namor strokes his face, and Jim feels unsettled. He looks up and finds Namor has been looking at him and not just at his beard, he doesn’t move as they stare into each other’s eyes a bit, there was a charge in the air, something unspoken.

Namor has a hard time keeping his eyes off of Jim today, he hadn’t seen him in so long now, and he had a beard, he had never seen him with one before, and it looks good. Jim looks even more handsome now with that scruffy beard, Namor tried not to sneak glances but he can’t help himself. Small stolen looks when Jim is occupied with those cats of his, one of them an orange one had leapt onto his lap and he had petted it as he drank his coffee and joked. Now he felt Jim’s cheeks, the beard was an excuse to touch him, and he felt Jim’s face grow warm as the man looked at his lips. It was always like that, Jim would watch him, but never say anything, Namor didn’t mind him looking, hell there were even times when he posed in his speedo back when they were Invaders in just the right light hoping Jim would admire him. Yet Jim had never once done anything about it and it looked like today he wasn’t going to either.

“Are you ok…”

“How long have we known each other Firebug?”

“I- what?”

Jim isn’t sure why exactly but there was a notable shift in Namor’s behavior, “You know this... don’t you?”

Namor did have issues with remembering things from time to time; often times he would be speaking about something that happened in the distant past as if it had just occurred yesterday, or he would be speaking about a subject and slowly trail off into silence, and those lasted a long time. Jim remembered once they had walked on a beach somewhere off the coast of Maine, and Namor had been telling him about a knife he lost as a boy and how he had just gotten this lost look in his eyes before going silent, he didn’t speak for the rest of the day and Jim had simply continued to walk with him, and then later sit on the beach until the sun went down and he stared out at the waves all night; it had been strange, but Jim didn’t want that night to end, and both men never said a single word, just being together was enough as Namor tried to puzzle out his memory. Jim knew it unsettled him when he couldn’t remember but he didn’t push him.

Now his face in Namor’s hands, the thumbs continue to stroke his cheeks.

“Namor we’ve known each other since the 40’s and you wanted to drown the world.”

“How come in all this time you have never kissed me?”

Jim’s mouth feels dry, his heart had sped up a little more, and looks into Namor’s eyes to see if he is serious, this close he notices how very pretty Namor’s eyelashes are. His eyelids are at half mast over those vividly green eyes as he watches Jim. Jim doesn’t move, he had thought about it for sure, thought about pulling Namor close and just going for it, but he didn’t think Namor loved him, or wanted more than friendship with an android, and Jim had so few friends, he couldn’t lose one.

“Would you let me do that?”

“I would let you do whatever you wanted Jim, I thought you knew that.”

“I… “Jim is at a loss for words, “Namor I-“

“Indulge me _Firebug_ , “He whispers softly.

His eyes shine with anticipation, as he moves closer to Jim.

Jim is glued to his seat, and Namor closes the distance between them. Their lips touch for the first time, the Torch’s lips are hot and Namor’s are cool, but it works, they _fit_. Namor presses in, this isn’t some simple peck of the lips, but a firm pressing as he feels Jim’s beard tickle him, and puts one hand behind jims head to keep him there as Namor kissed him. The Atlantean has soft full lips, softer than Jim would have thought possible as he kissed back, he doesn’t shut his eyes, still in shock he watches Namor’s expression as he feels those soft lips on his own.  The Prince has a cryptic look on his face when he finally pulls back, after only a minute but Jim could have sworn it was an hour. Namor watches him a few more seconds, heedless to the looks they were getting from Oracle employees, finally lets his hands fall, breaking contact with Jim’s face.

“It’s a good beard Jim; make sure you don’t burn it off when you flame on.”

Namor gives Jim a smirk before sitting back and taking a sip of coffee to settle himself. Jim licks his lips where Namor had kissed him and the faint taste of black coffee and salt is one his tongue, he doesn’t say anything, but a few moments later Namor finishes his drink in silence and stands, fixing his jacket button he nods at Jim and makes his goodbyes, Jim nods weakly back and doesn’t even turn to watch him walk out. The orange tabby that had vacated his lap earlier came back and leapt on, he absentmindedly strokes his fur as the Torch listens to the employee’s who had seen that kiss, making loudly hushed talk. He doesn’t know why Namor kissed him but he knows that it was… good.

Better than good… and he wanted to do it again.

*****

A few weeks go by and they haven’t spoken. It’s been one thing after another with the heroes for hire, and Jim is kept busy with Oracle, the messages he left for Namor weren’t returned and Jim has a sinking feeling like things had changed between them. He doesn’t like it.

“Tell whoever it is to come back.”

Jim calls out to his secretary over his shoulder when she opened the door as he stood before his window, the sun had just set.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea since it’s the owner of Oracle Inc.” She replies.

Turning he has a smile on his face already “Namor! Good to see you.”

He knows he sounds like an over excited teen but he doesn’t care. Jim doesn’t run over and hug him but he wants to, wants to kiss him, after spending so much time just replaying their last time together he wants-

“You may not think so when I tell you why I have come Hammond."

_Hammond… Namor only calls me that when some shit is about to go down._

The Prince walked in with that and nothing more as he stands at a sculpture looking at it.

“I have sold Oracle Inc.” Namor says in a cold tone, like he is just spitting out something he had rehearsed earlier. The door shuts, and the secretary who had brought him to Jim left, no doubt to tell the employees to start dusting off their resumes, this late at night most people would be at home.

After listening to Namor’s reason for being here, Jim wants to **punch** his face in. The statement hits Jim like a fist. He has to take a second then in a hot tone he demands, “What?! But why man?! I thought you were pleased by what we have been doing here?”

 _I thought you believed in the work we were doing, I thought you believed in **me**_ , is his unspoken thought. He hates him in this moment, yet he loves him too, he is a mix of emotions and doesn’t know what to do with them. He knows Namor, had for years and he should have seen this coming, should have known that Namor does what he wants and damn any who says otherwise. As Namor explains, Jim has to control his anger and the way his eyes glow white hot and try not to set his hair on fire.

“What about my employees, my people? They have mortgages, bills, families!” He paces the office his hair a flame. Footsteps making scorch marks in the expensive rug, “These are _good_ people.”

“They’ll be taken care of, and compensated for, and if they are the _good_ people you claim them to be then I’m sure they will find other jobs.” Namor pets one of Jim’s cats, it has orange fur with black strips like a tiger as he keeps his back to Jim. Namor doesn’t like to hear the hurt in Jim’s tone and Jim _was_ hurt. Namor knew he would be, which is why he didn’t return those calls, didn’t answer that unspoken thing between them.

Jim watches as Namor moves and goes to look out of the large window at the night time cityscape, the lights of the tall building are a soft glow as people go home, go out, and do whatever it is normal people do, Jim wouldn’t know, he hadn’t ever been normal no matter how much he wished he was at times.

“My first loyalty is to my own subjects.”

Namor _hates_ how much he sounds like his grandfather in those words but they were true, he didn’t get to have things that he could keep for himself, not if it meant that it would somehow harm his people. He had to put them first every time. That look of genuine happiness on Jim’s face when he had stepped into his office tonight had almost broken Namor. He liked that Jim was happy here, that he had a purpose and he was good at it. Yet the Prince had to put his own people’s needs over even Jim’s happiness. He grinds his teeth. He waits for Jim to speak, to say _anything_. Namor feels the heat of his body as the android closed the space between them, walking up behind the Atlantean. Jim’s reflection in the glass makes it look like some fiery demon is at his back, the blonde hair curls with flames and his eyes are a blinding white, there is smoke coming from his nostrils, and Namor starts to sweat in that suit, he hates his suit.

He locks eyes with Jim’s reflection.

“So what was that a few weeks ago huh?”

He knows what Jim is talking about, “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“That kiss, was it _pity_? Did you know you were going to be doing this then? Did you want to give something to remember you by after you fuck off back to the ocean?”

He doesn’t like Jim’s tone. He steels himself, back straight, eyes hard and his tone sharp.

“If I wanted to give you something to remember me by, I would do _better_ than a kiss.”

Jim’s hair moves in a spellbinding way as the fire sparks brighter. Yellow orange flames and the cat he was petting earlier had run off to hide under one of the couches. Afraid of the fire.

“You would let me do that?”

Namor wasn’t afraid of the fire.

“Oh Firebug… I would let you do whatever you wanted. I thought you knew that.” Namor says softly with a challenge in his voice. A rough hard comes from behind as Jim moves closer, Namor can feels his warm chest against his back, more than warm, hot, and it makes him hotter, and Jim’s left hand snakes up his neck, just under his jaw to hold him in place. Namor turns his head slightly, and sees the torch staring at him, there is rage there, lust too, mixed up with it. Most of all there is desire, blazing hot enough to burn Oracle Inc down to ash.

Jim doesn’t say anything, he can’t, he just wants to taste Namor’s lips again, and he does, hard, he kissed him and has to be careful not to let anymore of his power consume him or he would blister the Prince’s lips with his kiss of fire. Namor kisses him back, with just as much strength as he can. Then he raises his right hand to Jim’s head, burrowing it into the base of his hair, and before is fingers could touch the part that was on fire Jim shuts it off, and the Atlantean can feel the heat of his hair under his fingers as Jim’s right hand grabs Namor’s hip and pulls him back to press against his ass against Jim’s erection.

They don’t stop kissing, and Jim moves so that his releases Namor’s neck, brushing over the gills and down until he can touch the Atlantean’s chest, and without another thought, he burns Namor’s clothes off, giving just enough heat to make it crumble to dust beneath his flaming fingers and the Prince is naked before him. No green speedo in sight, not even normal underwear. Of course the sub-mariner would go commando. Jim pulls back from the kiss and looks at their reflection, erotic and shameless, Namor is completely bare before him while he still has his clothes on; his cock strains the front of his pants, the only barrier between them. Namor’s head rests on his shoulder, just where his neck begins and watches the reflection too.

He walks Namor forward and presses him against the cold glass, so that Prince is pinned there, against the glass where any who happened to glance at them from neighboring buildings could have gotten an eyeful. Jim kisses Namor’s neck as he gently thrusts against his bare ass; the friction of his clothing makes a delicious sensation. “Why do you want this? You feel sorry for me water rat? You say you would let me do anything to you but the things I want to do are not something… not something to be toyed with. I’ve spent decades dreaming of having you-”

He presses a kiss to the back of Namor’s neck, just below his hairline, and trails it along on shoulder; his hands grip Namor’s biceps. His hips moving slow. When Namor speaks it’s in a voice laced with harshness, and lust, and _want_.

“Having _me_? You want things? I would let you do things to me that _no_ man has before Firebug, I would feel your **heat** inside me, and I would _cry_ for it… would you _have_ me to _beg_? To kneel before you as you feed your cock into my mouth?”

The dirty words he whispers in that soft harsh voice makes Jim nearly overload with thoughts, scenarios, _images_ of Namor sucking on his cock in his office, of him looking up at Jim with those cool green eyes as he thrusts into the Prince’s mouth is too much and he lets out a deep groan.

Jim moves his lips off Namor’s shoulder to whisper in his sharply pointed ear, “I want to _pin_ you to my desk, to see your face as I **fuck** you, deep and hard and long. So even if you beg me to stop, I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t stop until I have said it’s enough until I’m tired… and Namor, I never get tired.” As an android he never would, and he could use that to his advantage.

Namor shivers in his arms, and he meets Jim’s eyes in the reflection of the window as the cars below continue along their roads, and the people walk and the lights of the city glow in a soft muted light.

“I would never beg you to stop.”

The next few moments are a flurry of movement as Jim maneuvers Namor over to his desk, nearly tripping over his own feet, then him pushing off everything so that his desk was clear. Papers, his computer, pens, and mug all crash to the floor in disarray as he pushes Namor down on his back and stands before him to undo his own clothes. The thought of burning them is overridden by the sight of seeing Namor lying across his desk but his hands in his belt are stopped by Namor’s hands.

“Let me… did you think that you were the only one who thought about this?” He nods towards Jim’s erection. Namor breaks his belt, and pulls down his pants, underwear next until Jim stands there in just his button down shirt and vest. Namor on his knees before Jim, pulling him by his cock until Jim stands rigid before him.

Then Namor’s lips are on Jim’s cock wetting it, taking it all in and Jim moans loudly, he faintly thinks maybe he should have locked his office door, or that he is still mad at Namor for deciding to shut down Oracle without consulting him but right now he doesn’t care about anything more than his fingers in slightly damp black hair and Namor’s tongue on his cock as he slowly rocks in and out of the Prince’s mouth.

Namor hadn’t planned for any of this to happen but he would not be a passive party to this. He sucks Jim’s cock; his wings are aflutter as his own emotions roll like a wave on the sea. He is trying to draw this out but Jim can’t take more than few moments until pulled up Namor by his hair. Jim is kissing him again and pushing him against the desk, the hard wood beneath his back. Jim seems to like kissing his neck and Namor doesn’t mind, his gills are overly sensitive but Jim avoids them, and he commands the Torch to take off his clothes. Jim doesn’t stop licking his skin as he sets his own clothes on fire, the heat against Namor’s skin brings on more sweat, his body couldn’t handle too much heat without dehydrating and passing out, but the flames are gone along with Jim’s clothes.  Namor feels Jim’s hands roam over his chest, one goes lower to touch his cock and he closes his eyes, no matter what happened later, when Oracle was left to the new owners and he was back beneath the rolling dark water he would remember this.  

The Prince wraps his legs around Jim’s hips and Jim touches him intimately, pushing his finger inside him, widening him. Namor has enjoyed the presence of men, but no man touched him like Jim did just now. No man would dare. Namor moans as Jim stretches him enough to be able to slide in his cock without hurting him. The Torch guides his cock, still wet from Namor’s mouth, to the entrance and pushes in. Namor doesn’t wince but it hurts, and its fills him, and he loves it. He claws at Jim’s bared back, fingers digging into the muscles there and lifts his hips off the desk. He curses as the man’s large member doesn’t seem to stop until he could feel Jim’s balls against his ass as he finally fully sheathed himself inside. Jim pulls back enough to look down on him, and Namor is memorized by those eyes, the white hot fire finally lowered to a barely there ember as the Torch’s blue eyes shone like the sunlight hitting a blue clear sea. 

“Waterbug…” Jim hardly ever called Namor that and he loves that he does it now, and he replies, “Firebug.”

Jim pulls back and thrusts, hard, and Namor takes him, and he does it again, and again, until a rhythm of hard fast pounding is only broken by harsh grunts and low moans. Namor urges Jim on in Atlantean. His words are not unfamiliar to Jim but the android doesn’t know exactly what the Prince is saying. It doesn’t matter; the only thing that matters is Jim fucking Namor into this desk while the Prince’s cock is caught between their hard bodies. Namor’s nails in his skin, and his lips on Namor’s, _don’t burn him don’t burn him don’t bur-_ runs through Jim’s mind as he thrusts, over and over again. The desk rocks and Namor moves with him as Jim wraps his hand around the Atlantean’s cock and mimics the movement of their sex. The Prince moves his hands, to run them down Jim’s chest, marveling at his skin, and up his arms to clutch onto his shoulder as he pulls him in for another kiss.  

Namor’s feels Jim’s heat inside him and Jim’s constant pounding on his prostate builds the pleasure inside of him and finally Namor comes, hard spurts of his semen cover his and Jim’s stomachs, making their sweaty body even stickier. Jim comes a moment later inside him. Filling him up and groaning his name before he slumps over. Namor is trapped under his body and the desk but he doesn’t move his legs from around Jim’s waist. He runs his hands up the androids back and plays with that golden hair.

The torch stays a moment, his face lies against the submariner’s chest, hearing the man’s heart beat beneath his ear Jim doesn’t want to move, wants to stay here.

It doesn’t last long, Namor is not used to be trapped like this and he shoves Jim’s arm, and the android takes the hint, standing up. Namor sits on the desk, uncaring of the mess he made as Jim’s come slowly seeps out of him, the whole office was in shambles, and Jim feels a bit guilty for the cleaning crew. He crosses his arms. Namor doesn’t look at him. He wants him to look, but instead he stays quiet.

“I didn’t know when I kissed you that I would be shutting down Oracle. I didn’t return your calls because I knew this would happen at some point.”

“How could you know? We’ve been friends for years and never-”

“I knew because if you hadn’t fucked me tonight Jim then I would have fucked you. I’ve known you longer than any other surface man, and I don’t know if I can love you, but I wanted to taste you, to feel you moving inside me.”

“You don’t love me?” His words are quiet but he knows what this is. A good bye fuck.

“I don’t know if I can allow myself to love you.”

“Why?” Jim didn’t want to sound needy or desperate but he needed to know... _why_?

Namor is quiet hands on either side of his thighs, holding onto the desk as his legs dangle off it, ankle wings are tightly pressed to his legs, a sign that he isn’t comfortable, yet for all his muscles and all his stature he looks as lost as he did that one night on that beach in Maine where he tried to figure out the missing pieces of his past.

“I’m a Prince of Atlantis, that means my life is not my own Jim Hammond, and though I can see myself loving you I could never allow it to happen because… because someday, I will have to hurt you like I did today, for the protection of my people. Their lives, the lives of every Atlantean citizen, means more than mine.”

Jim blinks back tears, he doesn’t want to cry, but that long resigned sound in Namor’s tone is the final nail in this coffin. Jim loves Namor, and Namor loves him, but he would never be able to have the Prince in the way he wanted to, and Namor sees it more clearly than Jim did. Namor saw it coming long before he showed up here. A tear slips down his cheek as he stares at the ground, winged feet step into view and a single finger brushes away his tear. Jim looks up at Namor; they almost matched in height, though Jim stood taller by an inch. Namor brushes back another tear that began to slip and strokes Jim’s cheeks, his beard and he looks deep into the Torch’s eyes; his voice a deep solemn promise as he holds back his own tears.

“If I could _love_ you Jim Hammond… I would fly to you, as Icarus flew to the Sun, and I would _burn_ in your presence and I would _never_ stop loving you as my body turns to ash. My dust swept away by the winds and scattered into the unforgiving sea.”

Jim swallows hard, his throat is tight and already his body yearns for Namor, but the Sea Prince has already slipped away, the door of his office shuts with a click, Jim idly hopes his secretary went home or she would be faced with a naked sub-mariner, his cat peeks out of his hiding place. Jim staggers to his chair and still naked, still a sticky sweaty mess, he sits and buries his face into his hands. The cat purrs around his ankles and looks up at him but Jim can’t see him through his tears.

*****

The next day Oracle Inc was handed over to the new owners and Jim turns his back on the building for the last time, he carries a cardboard box which holds the only things he took from his office. The cats sleep in a warm pile and Jim walks down the street. Jim knows he has to soon move out to find an apartment that allows pets.  He needs to find another job too.

Jim picks up another cat on his way home, he didn’t mean to but he had some treats in his pocket and the poor thing looked hungry.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Buckysunshine, you and I met one year ago and each day I am so happy we did! I wish the best things in the world for you. *hugs*


End file.
